Mobile Point of Sale Solutions Could Increase Consumer Card Payments By More $1 Trillion A Year, Study Says

A new report by Javelin says there are nearly 20 million merchants who could start accepting card payments as a result of wider adoption of mobile POS solutions.

Mobile point-of-sale solutions have the potential to displace terminal point-of-sale solutions in the coming years, and add up to $1.1 trillion in new card payments per year, according to a new report from Javelin Strategy and Research, an analyst firm.

Mobile POS solutions can attract new merchants to the cards payments markets, particularly smaller self-employed businesses that previously only dealt in cash and checks, the Mobile POS Business and Market Impact 2013 Report found. Javelin estimated that there is up to 20 million merchants that currently do not accept card payments that could be attracted to mobile POS solutions.

The report also included a survey of more than 9,000 consumers, and the majority of them said that they think mobile POS solutions are either very or extremely convenient, a statement released yesterday by Javelin said. This perception of convenience means that traditional terminal POS solutions providers could lose customers to the mobile POS providers, the report said. “The new mobile POS players pose a threat to the traditional POS terminal and acquiring businesses, which must adapt, invest, or acquire,” Mary Monahan, Javelin’s executive vice president and research director for mobile, said in the statement.

The report also compared 14 different mobile POS solutions providers based on the pricing and features of their respective solutions.

Jonathan Camhi has been an associate editor with Bank Systems & Technology since 2012. He previously worked as a freelance journalist in New York City covering politics, health and immigration, and has a master's degree from the City University of New York's Graduate School ... View Full Bio